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Accident snarls traffic in Gorst; driver injured

Troopers inspect the wreckage of the Ford Ranger that ran into a garbage truck on Tuesday morning.

— image credit: Courtesy photo

All lanes of State Route 3 near Division Avenue in Gorst have reopened to traffic, after a two-car accident that left a 25-year-old Bremerton man seriously injured.

The driver, whose identity has not been released, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where officers are waiting to question him about the accident.

Trooper Krista Hedstrom said the injured man was driving a Ford Ranger, and that it “took a long time” to extract him from the wreckage. She said that it was likely the driver was at fault, even though there was no evidence of drugs, alcohol or a cell phone on the scene.

At around 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, a collision had blocked both directions of the road. Later, northbound traffic was being diverted off at Sunnyslope Road, to Old Clifton Road and then onto State Route 16.

According to a spokesman for South Kitsap Fire & Rescue, the crash occurred when a southbound Ford Ranger pickup failed to negotiate the curve, crossed the center line and collided with a garbage truck in the oncoming lane.

Hedstrom said the driver of the garbage truck was not injured.

Washington State Patrol and Washington State Department of Transportation personnel are investigating the mishap.

Hedstrom said that the State Patrol ”had a pretty good idea” of the injured driver’s identity, but that it would not be released before it could be confirmed. She said the name of the driver was not the same as that on the registration.

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